Eligibility for Tier 1 – ready to export

Start your export journey with EMDG.

Eligibility criteria for Tier 1

In Round 4, you may be eligible for Tier 1 if both of the following are true:

  • your business has not exported before
  • you are ready to start exporting and promoting products or services to foreign markets.

Your business must:

  • have a valid Australian Business Number (ABN)
  • have conducted your business under the same ABN for at least 2 years
  • have an annual turnover of more than $100,000 but less than $20 million
  • have the capacity to spend at least $20,000 per financial year, exclusive of the grant amount. This is your own money. This cannot be funding from other Commonwealth, state, territory or local government sources
  • have a high-quality plan to market that is specific to your business. It must not be copied from another business, another EMDG application or a generic marketing plan
  • be tax compliant and fit to receive a grant
  • meet all other eligibility requirements.

More information about Tier 1 eligibility is in the EMDG guidelines on Guidelines and legislation.

Export readiness requirements

Before you apply for Tier 1, you must complete Austrade-recognised export training and/or our Export Readiness Test.

You must provide evidence that you have completed at least one of these requirements. If you complete Austrade’s Export Readiness Test, the online application form will reflect this.

Export readiness and EMDG

Watch this video to find out how to become export ready before you apply for a Tier 1 grant.

Speaker 1:

What's the recipe for export success for Australian businesses? A key factor is whether the business was export ready before it began trading internationally. Export readiness is when a business has the capacity, resources, and management skills to launch a product or service in foreign markets and be competitive. Austrade provides a range of support services to help businesses become export ready, and our Go Global Toolkit is a great place to start. It's packed with tips, tools, and information about exporting. Find it on the export.business.gov.au website.

If you want to start exporting, you may be thinking about applying for an Export Market Development Grant or EMDG. This program provides small and medium enterprises with grants for marketing and promotional activities that help create, expand, or diversify to foreign markets. To be considered eligible for a tier one ready to export EMDG grant, you'll need to prove you're export ready. You can choose how you do this. You can either complete an export training course recognised by Austrade, find one that best suits your business from the list in the Go Global Toolkit, or you can do Austrade's free online export readiness test. There's a link to it in the Go Global Toolkit. This test guides you through the critical elements of export readiness, like selecting a market that suits your business, protecting your intellectual property, and creating an export plan. It takes about 30 minutes to do and gives you what you need to know to pass the test.

Of course, you can do both our test and a recognised course because everything you do to build your understanding, capacity, and export readiness will improve your chances of success in the global market. Find out more online.

Find more information about:

Grant amounts and duration

For Round 4, Tier 1 offers grants of $20,000 up to $30,000 per financial year.

Grant agreements will be for up to 2 financial years for 2025–26 and 2026–27.

Matched funding

You must be able to match the grant funding with your own money. You must also demonstrate the minimum capacity to spend $20,000 per financial year.

Grant limits

Across multiple grant rounds, you can receive:

  • 2 financial years of Tier 1 grant funding
  • up to 8 financial years of EMDG, which do not have to be consecutive.

We recommend applying for EMDG when EMDG can best help you. This may be at intervals throughout your export journey.

From Round 4, calculations for your 8 years will include each financial year you enter a grant agreement or the number of grants previously paid. This includes years when you:

  • report nil activity
  • don't receive a grant payment.

Prepare to apply

If Tier 1 is right for your business, read the EMDG guidelines on Guidelines and legislation and apply.

Templates and sample documents are available at Apply for Tier 1.

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